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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/30112476">Darkness</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scavenge/pseuds/Scavenge'>Scavenge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steam Powered Giraffe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 00:41:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>887</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/30112476</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scavenge/pseuds/Scavenge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Trouble can have the most innocent beginnings </p><p>(If thinking about dark small spaces bothers you proceed carefully. Most of the fic isn't in such a place though.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Rolling Start</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Walter Manor….a strange place where every object seems to have a life of it's own...including the bouncy ball Zer0 knew he shouldn't be playing with indoors. In the automaton's defense he'd only been rolling it around on the floor but it had bounced off a corner. After that it decided to just roll somewhere completely unpredictable. </p><p>Zer0 chased it not really paying attention to where it was leading him until he realized it was dark, cold, and damp. Worse yet it was silent.</p><p>Zer0 shivered remembering the years beneath the manor. He knew he should leave this place before anyone caught him down here. Then he spotted his ball right inside an open vault door. Thinking he'd just reach down, grab it, and scurry back upstairs he reached for it. It rolled from his reach. He instinctively lunged towards it. </p><p>SLAM! </p><p>The vault door inexplicably shut behind Zer0. It sent him falling into one of the vault walls as it caught the back of his boot. He cried out and clutched the soccer ball to his chest. Then he sat it down and started trying to open the door but it was sealed shut! He gulped though it was unnecessary and tried calling for help over the wifi. Unfortunately the fall had caused something to disconnect and he couldn't connect back to the wifi. He tried his emergency cell phone but there was no cell reception. </p><p>Zer0 felt panic rising in his core. "How long am I down here?" he wondered aloud in a trembling voice.</p>
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<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Visitors</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Will anyone notice Zer0's missing?!!</p>
          </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The Spine was tuning his instrument in music room four when he felt a hand tap his shoulder. Then footsteps ran off. Spine set down his instrument and chuckled running after whoever had tapped his shoulder. Their footsteps went down the hall. </p><p>Rabbit was minding her business in the kitchen when she too felt someone tap her shoulder and run off. She went giving chase to the mystery person.</p><p>Both automatons on opposite wings of the manor blissfully chased their mystery game partners. From kitchens to staircases, secret passageways, music rooms, and living rooms. Finally after several hours four giddy robots collided with each other. </p><p>"H-Hatchy! J-J-Jonny! Ya came to visit!" Rabbit exclaimed. The Jon chuckled and said "Yeah! Hatch came to visit me and ah…say how come Zer0 hasn't seen us yet?" "Yes he would have joined chase." Hatchworth agreed. "That's odd. Perhaps he's in stasis?" The Spine suggested. "No I don't think so…." The Jon disagreed getting a dark look in his photoreceptors. "I d-don't like that l-l-look Jonny." Rabbit gulped. "And I don't like the feeling I have." Jon almost shot back. </p><p>The Spine scurried, as best as a tall long legged automaton can, to Zer0's favorite places to go into stasis. Rabbit loped off to go ask the appliances if they'd seen Zer0. Jon went to ask Peter Six. Hatchworth went to question the Walter workers.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. 13 Sealed</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"No I haven't seen Zer0." Peter Six answered The Jon as he double checked that The Jon hadn't dislocated anything in his body from running or transporting himself to Walter Manor. He gave Jon some homemade crystal Pepsi. "Oh well...uh maybe Rabbit or Hatchworth or uh….Spine will find him…" The Jon hopes aloud. "Well if not come straight to me." Six instructed thinking that Zer0 would surely be found by the other bots. </p><p>Alas another hour later proved that Six's hope had been in vain. "Oh my-y-y-y…" Rabbit fretted. "Now look. He could just be out in the garden or labyrinth or duck pond" ,Six babbled, "I'll just pull up his GPS signal and…" Six does so before finishing the thought. He looks at the screen. Had anyone seen his face it'd have been as white as a sheet. </p><p>"We-Well where is-is-is he?" Rabbit questioned impatiently. "Down in the vaults...vault 13 is sealed." Six replied hoarsely. </p><p>Zer0 sat hunched in the silence humming JuJu Magic like he had been the past hour. He sat there trying not to remember the days trapped below the manor with only Beebop and QWERTY for company. "Nobody knows where I am now…not even Beebop is here…no QWERTY either…" he thought miserably. A sound went off alerting him of low water and oil levels. Zer0 finally broke down sobbing. It'd been hours and….</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"ZER0! ZER0 BUDDY! A-Are ya down here?!" Rabbit's voice called out in the darkness. "Rabbit? Rabbit I'm here!" Zer0 cried out overjoyed. "Stand back! This door is malfunctioning! We're busting it down!" Spine yelled. The door opened under the pressure of the four robots and a very grateful and relieved Zer0 rushed into the arms of his happy siblings. </p><p>"What were you even doing down here?" Spine worriedly questioned. "I-I was running after Bounce and…" Zer0 began only to realize he must've dropped the ball somewhere. "We will find it later. You need water and a good check up friendo." Hatchworth spoke assuringly. "Someone say check up?" Six panted as he finally caught up with the bots. </p><p>After a check up and repairs to Zer0's wifi the rest of the day passed in sheer merriment and typical automatonic chaos. Zer0 didn't even question how his ball wound up back in his room assuming Peter Six had found it and returned it.</p><p>All seemed well… seemed...</p>
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